There’s been this prevailing notion for a while now, that director Zack Snyder will be going for a far more gritty, realistic look at Superman in his upcoming reboot Man of Steel. It’s a notion only enhanced by the fact that Christopher “I Made Batman Real, Yo” Nolan was brought in by Warner Bros. to serve as producer and shepherd for the project. Nolan’s Batman Begins is the go-to for Hollywood producers who want to make superhero stories for the second, third and sometimes fourth time. Now Snyder is doing something similar with Superman. He’s taking the character seriously. And he’s just begun to talk about how that’s all going to work.
“It’s a more serious version of Superman,” explains the director in a new interview with Hero Complex. “We took the mythology seriously. We take him as a character seriously. I believe the movie would appeal to anyone. I think that you’re going to see a Superman you’ve never seen before. We approached it as though no other films had been made.
“He’s the king-daddy. Honestly that’s why I wanted to do it. I’m interested in Superman because he’s the father of all superheroes. He’s this amazing ambassador for all superheroes. What was it about him that cracked the code that made pop culture embrace this other mythology?
“What we‘ve made as a film not only examines that but is also an amazing adventure story. It’s been an honour to work on. As a comic-book fan, Superman is like the Rosetta Stone of all superheroes. I wanted to be sure the movie treated it respectfully.”
In the interview, Snyder also talks about the differences between bringing Watchmen to the screen and rebooting Superman. It’s an interesting moment of reflection. As he explains, the challenge of Watchmen was to get everything from the book into the movie in a way that would be cohesive. With Superman, they seem to be doing more universe-building. More free reign on retelling the story of “the father of all superheroes.”
What do you think of Snyder’s vision for Superman, based on what we’ve seen thus far?